Recent Exam IELTS Questions Speaking task – "Place Near Water"

June 30, 2017Vaibhavi Karad

In this article we are going to focus on improving our speaking skills for IELTS Speaking Exam. We will analyse the speech of a trainer, the audio of which is attached in this article. The IELTS Speaking Exam has three parts to it, which are:

Introduction

A Talk (Cue Card)

Discussion

In this article we are sharing an audio which is the response to a cue card question. After picking the cue card, you need to read out the question. You will be given a minute to collate your answer. Then you shall start speaking on the topic. The speech is expected to last for 2 minutes. If you happen to exceed the time limit, you will be stopped. If you finish in less than 2 minutes of time, its possible that your points will be deducted.

The question as quoted in the recent IELTS Speaking exam

“Describe a place near water (such as a river, lake or the ocean) that you enjoyed visiting:• Where was this place?• What did you do at this place?• Who went there with you?Explain why you liked this place.”

This is how your IELTS Speaking Cue Card will look like

It is important to note that the IELTS Speaking skills will be judged on the following parameters

Common mistakes made by candidates include:

Unclear pronunciation

Correct pronunciation is essential when speaking on a topic. This is where non-native English speakers tend to falter. Take short pauses while speaking to allow space between sentences. While this may not be a judging criteria it is an important factor which portrays the level of preparation. Notice how Robinson takes pauses between every sentence and makes the punctuation also very evident through his speech

Nervousness

Do no panic while speaking your answer out. There is absolutely no need to! Keep in mind that you are just communicating some thoughts and ideas to another person (who is the interviewer). Robinson’s voice throughout the audio communicates a very calm composure which portrays his confidence.

Technical Errors made widely and how they were tackled by Robinson

Vocabulary

Throughout his speech Robinson used simple language and used words of a slightly higher complexity in some places very appropriately.
Useful vocabulary used in the model answer includes:

picturesque

hill station

rafting

paragliding

cedar

pleasant

plenty

igloo

If one looks at these words carefully, they will see that all these words are relevant to the term holiday which is what the topic is about. This is the general mistake that people tend to make – not using relevant vocabulary. People tend to use complex words in the wrong places hence shifting the focus of the speech to another aspect. This has been managed well in the model answer.

Addressing the objective of the topic

The Model answer speaks very specifically about the topic and does not deviate from the objective at all which automatically adds a higher score from this section. Many a times candidates do not stick to the topic and this causes them to lose marks. To avoid this one must carefully read the question twice and then try answering the question.

Cohesion and Coherence

Cohesion and coherence refer to explanation of a concepts in a few lines, clearly. People either try to cram the entire idea in one sentence and the sentence becomes too long and complicated. Whereas some people make it so elaborate that they miss out on covering the main objective of the entire question. Robinson has used a very balanced set of sentences and has used punctuations wisely.

I want to end this article by asking using to record your answer on the same topic and preferably discussing this with your personal mentor. For those who are not enrolled with us on IELTS Ninja, you can put your audio samples here and I’ll try my best to give you a feedback on it.
Best of luck!
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